Dictionary Definition
lace
Noun
1 a cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks in order to draw together two edges (as of a shoe or garment) [syn: lacing]
2 a delicate decorative fabric woven in an open web of symmetrical patterns
Verb
1 spin or twist together so as to form a cord; "intertwine the ribbons"; "Twine the threads into a rope" [syn: intertwine, twine, entwine, enlace, interlace] [ant: untwine]
3 do lacework; "The Flemish women were lacing in front of the cathedral"
4 draw through eyes or holes; "lace the shoelaces" [syn: lace up]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -eɪs
Translations
fabric
cord for fastening a shoe or garment
- Chinese: (xiédài) (for shoes)
- Czech: tkanička (only for shoes)
- Finnish: nauha; kengännauha (for shoes)
- French: lacet
- German: Schnürband italbrac garment, Schnürsenkel italbrac shoes, Schuhband italbrac shoes
- Ido: laco
- Italian: laccio
- Polish: sznurówka , sznurowadło (only for shoes)
- Spanish: italbrac shoelace cordón , agujeta , cabete , cinta , pasador italbrac Peru, trenza italbrac Venezuela
- Swedish: snodd , snöre , skosnöre (only shoes)
Verb
- To fasten (something) with laces.
- To add alcohol, poison, a drug or anything else potentially harmful to (food or drink).
- To interweave items. (lacing one's fingers together)
- To interweave the spokes of a bicycle wheel
Translations
add something harmful to
- Swedish: spetsa
- Português envenenar algo
Derived terms
Esperanto
Adverb
French
Verb
- Form of First-person singular present subjunctive, lacer
- Form of Third-person singular present subjunctive, lacer
- Form of Second-person singular imperative, lacer
Extensive Definition
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric.
Originally linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used. Now lace is often made with cotton thread. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fiber. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.
Types of Lace
There are many types of lace, defined by how they are made. These include:- Needle lace; made using a needle and thread. This is the most flexible of the lace-making arts. While some types can be made more quickly than the finest of bobbin laces, others are very time-consuming. Some purists regard Needle lace as the height of lace-making. The finest antique needle laces were made from a very fine thread that is not manufactured today.
- Bobbin Lace; as the name suggests, made with bobbins and a pillow. The bobbins, turned from wood, bone or plastic, hold threads which are woven together and held in place with pins stuck in the pattern on the pillow. The pillow contains straw, preferably oat straw or other materials such as sawdust, insulation styrofoam or ethafoam. Also known as Bone-lace.
- Tape lace; makes the tape in the lace as it is worked, or uses a machine- or hand-made textile strip formed into a design, then joined and embellished with needle or bobbin lace.
- Knotted lace; including Macramé and Tatting. Tatted lace is made with a shuttle or a tatting needle.
- Crocheted lace; including Irish crochet, pineapple crochet, and filet crochet.
- Knitted lace; including Shetland lace, such as the "wedding ring shawl", a lace shawl so fine that it can be pulled through a wedding ring.
- Machine-made; any style of lace created or replicated using mechanical means.
History of Lace
References to lace are made in the Bible in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 28:28, King James Version). Lace was used by clergy of the early Catholic Church as part of vestments in religious ceremonies, but did not come into widespread use until the 16th century.http://www.lacemakerslace.oddquine.co.uk/history.html The popularity of Lace increased rapidly and the cottage industry of lace making spread throughout Europe to where most European countries. Countries like Belgium, Russia, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Malta and others all have their own unique artistic heritage expressed through lace.
In North America in the 19th century, lace making was spread to the Native American tribes through missionaries. http://lace.lacefairy.com/ID/IndianLace.html
Gallery
Image:lace1.jpg|White lace is often used in collars and other fabric borders
Image:Royal Lace detail.jpg|Lace of the Royal collection, Belgium
Image:NeedleLaceBorder ErzgebirgeGermany1884.jpg|Needle Lace borders from the Erzgebirge mountains Germany in 1884, displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Image:ArmenianNeedlelace.jpg|Armenian needlelace circa 2004.
Image:Poland_Koniakow_-_laces.jpg|Koniakow traditional laces
Image:Csetneki_csipke.jpg|Csetneki lace
Image:Irish crochet.jpg|19th century Irish crocheted lace
Image:Carolus -Private Collection - detail naaldkant.jpg|Needle lace
External links
- Virtual Museum of Textile Arts
- A Renascence of the Irish Art of Lace-making
- International Bobbin and Needle Lace Organisation
- International Old Lacers
- English lace organization
- Italian lace and embroidery organization
- Digital Archive of Documents Related to Lace (University of Arizona)
- Australian lace museum
- Antique Bobbin Lace
- Irish Lace
- The Craft of Bobbin Making
lace in Bulgarian: Дантела
lace in Czech: Krajka
lace in German: Spitze (Stoff)
lace in Modern Greek (1453-): Δαντέλα
lace in Spanish: Encaje
lace in French: Dentelle
lace in Korean: 레이스
lace in Italian: Merletto
lace in Dutch: Kant (textiel)
lace in Japanese: レース編み
lace in Polish: Koronka (sztuka)
lace in Portuguese: Renda (tecido)
lace in Russian: Кружево
lace in Simple English: Lace
lace in Finnish: Pitsi
lace in Swedish: Spetsar
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Brussels point, Roman lace, Shetland lace, Venetian point, adulterate, arabesque, assail, assault, attack, band, bandage, basketry, basketwork, bastardize, baste, bastinado, beat, belabor, belt, bend, berate, bind, bind up, birch, brace, braid, buffet, bundle, cancellation, cane, castigate, chain, cinch, cloth, club, contaminate, cord, corrupt, cowhide, cross-hatching, crossing-out, cudgel, cut, debase, denaturalize, denature, dilute, do up, doctor, doctor up, drapery, drub, enlace, entwine, etoffe, fabric, fall on, fall upon, felt, filet lace, filigree, fillet, flagellate, flail, flog, fortify, fret, fretwork, fustigate, gird, girdle, girt, girth, give a whipping, give the stick, goods, grate, grating, grid, gridiron, grille, grillwork, hachure, hatching, horsewhip, interknit, interlace, interlacement, intertexture, intertie, intertissue, intertwine, intertwinement, intertwist, interweave, intort, knit, knout, lacery, lacework, lacing, lash, lattice, latticework, lay into, lay on, leash, light into, loom, loop, mat, material, mesh, meshes, meshwork, napery, needlepoint, net, netting, network, noose, openwork, pistol-whip, plait, pleach, plexure, plexus, point, pollute, pommel, pounce on, pounce upon, pummel, raddle, rag, rawhide, reticle, reticulation, reticule, reticulum, revile, riddle, rope, scold, scourge, screen, screening, set upon, shoelace, shoestring, sieve, silk, smite, spank, spike, splice, strap, strengthen, string, stripe, stuff, swaddle, swathe, swinge, switch, tamper with, tatting, textile, textile fabric, texture, thong, thrash, thread, thump, tie, tie up, tissu, tissue, tracery, trellis, trelliswork, trounce, truncheon, truss, twill, twine, twist, upbraid, wallop, water, water down, wattle, weave, weaving, web, webbing, webwork, weft, whale, whip, whop, wicker, wickerwork, wire, woof, wool, wrap, wrap up, wreathe